Mazda confirms “heated debate” over identical SUV styling

A senior Mazda engineer has revealed the exterior design of the brand’s new four-model premium SUV portfolio triggered “heated debate” inside the company.

CX-60 and CX-80 development program manager Kohei Shibata recently told carsales the amount of differentiation between the new SUVs was “debated in a heated manner” internally.

There were two contentious issues Shibata confirmed and one was whether the five-seat CX-60 and CX-70 should adopt a more sloping ‘coupe’ shape rather than sticking with the same wagon roofline as the three-row CX-80 and CX-90.

“That [a coupe style] is something we also debated in a heated manner and personally I wanted to have a coupe-looking … SUV,” he said.

“I think it’s very cool in the traffic.

“But in the marketplace it is very small and that is going to limit the customers as well, so rather than that we thought that we should make an SUV with the large luggage space and that has the bigger potential.”

The other issue he spoke of was whether to shorten the wheelbase of the CX-70 compared to the CX-90, in the same way the CX-60 is shorter than the CX-80.

“We had a really heated debate inside the company about how we going to handle these four models, centring around the United States and their heightening need for outdoor and activity use,” he said via a translator.

“Thinking about the common [CX-70] wheelbase with the CX-90 … we thought that had a higher potential.”

It’s understood Mazda North America pushed very hard to retain the common wheelbase for the CX-70 and CX-90, the former of which has proved a commercial success for Mazda in its first year on-sale in the US.

The Large Product Group (LPG) as Mazda calls it comprises the CX-60 five-seater, its seven-seat spin-off the CX-80, the seven-seat CX-90 and its five-seat CX-70 spin-off.

The four models are separated primarily by their overall length, width and wheelbases but all share a fundamental platform, powertrains, interior and exterior designs.

The commonalities between them are exacerbated in Australia because it’s the only major Mazda market to take all four models.

The CX-60 and CX-80 are ‘narrow body’ SUVs primarily designed for Japan and Europe and have a maximum width of 1890mm (without mirrors) whereas the CX-70 and CX-90 are ‘wide bodies’ – maximum width of 1994mm – designed primarily for North America.

The CX-60 sits on a shorter 2870mm wheelbase, while the CX-70, CX-80 and CX-90 all share a longer 3120mm footprint despite having different overall lengths: the CX-60 is the shortest overall at 4740mm, followed by the CX-80 at 4990mm while the CX-70 and CX-90 are identical at 5120mm.

Globally, Mazda is targeting at least 200,000 LPG sales per annum, while in Australia the stated aim is a combined 16,800 sales per year.

Mazda Australia marketing director Alastair Doak dismissed questions from carsales about potential buyer confusion caused by the near identical exterior presentation of the four models.

“People spend time on the [Mazda] website and are very clear on what they [LPG models] have and don’t have,” he said.

“If people still have questions or some level of confusion but they are standing in the dealership – great!

“We’ll be able to show them and demonstrate to them and they will be able to touch, smell and feel them.

“I’m sure they will be able to come away with something because we are offering loads of choice.”

Both the CX-60 and CX-90 launched in Australia last year with higher prices intended to push Mazda into a more premium market segment, but this far they have failed to hit sales targets.

The CX-60 has is now on a drive-away price offer, while the CX-80 has arrived with a new entry-level Pure variant that an updated CX-60 will mimic in the first half of 2025.

In a nutshell, the CX-60 is intended as a step-up for owners of Mazda’s popular mainstream CX-5 medium SUV, the CX-80 is a replacement for the defunct CX-8 and CX-9 seven-seaters, the CX-90 is an avenue upward from top-spec CX-9s while the CX-70 is for aspirational SUV shoppers who don’t want three rows of seats.

The four cars collectively are also intended to bring new premium buyers to Mazda.

“The basic premise of the large [product group] architecture was to give people a new destination for Mazda and to keep them in the Mazda family, or bring new people to the Mazda family at price point we weren’t at before and that is what we are doing,” Doak said.

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